Acoustooptic
Acoustooptic refers to phenomena and devices that use the interaction between sound waves and light in a medium to modulate, deflect, or frequency-shift light. The effect arises when a traveling acoustic wave induces a moving refractive-index grating in the material via the photoelastic effect, creating a dynamic Bragg grating that diffracts light.
In a typical acousto-optic modulator or deflector, a radio-frequency signal drives a piezoelectric transducer attached to
Common devices include acousto-optic modulators (AOMs), which control optical intensity or frequency; acousto-optic deflectors (AODs), which
Applications span laser scanning, fiber-optic communications, spectroscopy, and imaging. They are valued for fast, solid-state, non-mechanical